Does Film Smoking Promote Youth Smoking in Middle-Income Countries?: A Longitudinal Study among Mexican Adolescents

Abstract

Objective To determine whether exposure to smoking imagery in films predicts smoking onset among never-smoking Mexican adolescents. Methods The analytic sample was comprised of 11- to 14-year old secondary school students who reported never having tried smoking at baseline, 83% (1741/2093) of whom were successfully followed up after one year. Exposure to 42 popular films that contained smoking was assessed at baseline, whereas smoking behavior and risk factors were assessed at baseline and follow up. Logistic regression was used to estimate bivariate and adjusted relative risks of trying smoking and current smoking at follow up. Results At follow up, 36% reported having tried smoking and 8% reported having smoked in the previous month. Students who were successfully followed up were exposed to an average of 43.8 minutes of smoking in the films they reported viewing at baseline. Adjusted relative risks (ARRs) indicated that students in the two highest levels of exposure to film smoking were more than twice as likely to have smoked in the previous 30 days at follow up (ARR3v1=2.44, 95%CI 1.31, 4.55; ARR4v1=2.23, 95% CI 1.19, 4.17). The adjusted relative risk of having tried smoking by follow up reached statistical significance only when comparing the 3rd highest to the lowest exposure group (ARR3v1=1.54, 95%CI 1.01, 2.64). Having a parent or best friend who smoked at baseline were the only other variables that independently predicted both outcomes. Conclusions Exposure to movie smoking is a risk factor for smoking onset among Mexican youth.

Smoking-Related Attitudes and Knowledge Among Medical Students and Recent Graduates in Argentina: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Studies have shown that media images of smoking, particularly in movies, are linked to smoking and smoking initiation among adolescents. [35][36][37][38][39][40] Therefore, media literacy-or the ability to analyze and evaluate media messages 41 -has been proposed as a tool to better interpret media messages related to smoking, potentially influencing attitudes towards smoking and smoking behavior. Prior studies have shown an association between the level of smoking media literacy and smoking status among adolescents in the USA and in Jujuy, Argentina, as well as in US college students.…”

Exposure to smoking in films and smoking behaviour among Norwegian 15- to 20-year-olds: a cross-sectional study

“…Regarding findings from other countries, effects similar to those in the US were found in Mexico, albeit somewhat weaker (Thrasher et al, 2008(Thrasher et al, , 2009. In Egypt significant effects were found only for boys (Islam & Johnson, 2007), in Germany (Hanewinkel & Sargent, 2007) and the United Kingdom (Waylen et al, 2011) similar effects as in the US were revealed, while studies from Scotland (Hunt et al, 2009(Hunt et al, , 2011 have produced conflicting results.…”

Assessing tobacco marketing receptivity among youth: integrating point of sale marketing, cigarette package branding and branded merchandise

“…Smoking-related variables included smoking status of parents (any smoker vs none), siblings (any smoker vs none) and five closest friends (any smoker vs none). We also included sensation seeking, which is a robust predictor of smoking behaviour, including in Latin America,38 and has also been associated with marketing receptivity 39…”